Business ethics is a comprehensive concept which delineates the organizations’ relationships with their customers. What is more important, corporate ethics deals with the environment within the company. The more attention the management team pays to the organizing and sustaining positive working conditions for its employees, the higher their job satisfaction and dedication levels are. While it is understood that instances of bullying and discrimination have an adverse impact on the people working in an organization, the cases of such deviant behaviors are still frequent in modern business firms.
The significance of researching work discrimination is justified by the seriousness of this phenomenon and its dramatic impact on people’s work performance and their wellbeing (Pager & Western, 2012). Productivity levels fall when companies do not care about sustaining a healthy atmosphere among the employees. To protect those who have suffered from unfair treatment due to their religion, gender, race, or some other issue, the anti-discrimination law was implemented (Pager & Western, 2012). However, to be able to use the law’s protection, a person needs to have proof of maltreatment expressed towards him/her.
The case of Hunter Panels’ Smithfield plant is a sad but bright example of how a job discrimination issue can hurt a single employee and impact the whole organization (Silver, 2015). The ex-employee, Sandra S. Robertson, filed a court case against the company in which she had worked for six years. During that period, Robertson was constantly suffering from her colleagues’ harassment and job discrimination attempts (Silver, 2015).
The woman was offended because of her gender and her stature, and another kind of injustice was in the manager’s refusal to consider her complaints. Robertson reported that she had endured “harassment, venom, and gender-based discrimination” from her male co-workers when she had occupied the position of a shipping supervisor at Hunter Panels’ Smithfield plant (Silver, 2015). More than that, she received much smaller wages than her predecessor, who was male. That was another bias since the woman had a lot of experience in the Air Force as a supply specialist (Silver, 2015).
As Robertson said in the court, her colleagues’ conduct changed from jokes into brutal offenses, and the authorities did not want to hear about that. Luckily, the federal jury took another side, and after thorough consideration, considered that Hunter Panels expressed prejudice against Mrs. Robertson, “subjected her to a hostile work environment and retaliated against her by firing her” (Silver, 2015). The woman’s lawyer said that the sum awarded as compensation – over $13 million – was the largest for such a case in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Silver, 2015).
One of the reasons for such decisions was that the jury realized the seriousness of the case. Gender discrimination is a widespread phenomenon, and all companies needed to be warned against the consequences of their unfair actions. Thus, by sending “a stern, unmistakable message” to Hunter Panels, the jury hoped to prevent discrimination cases in the future (Silver, 2015). Mrs. Robertson said that while she was satisfied with the jury’s decision, she would not wish for anyone to go through what she had gone. She acquired health issues, and she had difficulty finding a new job (Silver, 2015). The case of Hunter Panels illustrates the ineffective inner organization of the working environment and the company manager’s disability and even unwillingness to handle the situation
To eliminate negative behaviors within an organization, leaders need to come up with a plan of educating their employees about the adverse outcomes of job discrimination and encouraging them to sustain a friendly and positive atmosphere within a company. First of all, it is necessary to organize an optimistic environment at the workplace (Murphy, 2015). To do this, leaders should remember about human values and not limit their endeavors to growing the company’s financial income. Employees need to be inspired and feel appreciated (Murphy, 2015). Murphy (2015) mentions that people’s performance depends on the leadership style for nearly 70 percent. The most beneficial characteristics of a leader who promotes both the organization’s and employees’ achievements are being sociable, thoughtful, curious, and welcoming (Murphy, 2015).
If people see that their manager is interested in what they are doing and supports them in difficult situations, they will feel more dedication to work and more trust with one another. Another important aspect is giving employees an opportunity to participate in decision making and create a friendly climate within the team. Also, company’s management needs to emphasize the importance of respect and humanity in interrelation communication. By following these rules, a positive environment within an organization will be achieved, and no destructive patterns of behavior will be noticed.
Business ethics plays a significant role in any organization’s successful activity. Leaders need to organize the relationships between employees in such a way that would encourage them to be dedicated to their work and customers. Cases of job discrimination are frequent, but more and more people manage to punish their offenders. To eliminate adverse patterns of employees’ behavior, it is necessary to organize a positive environment and maintain friendly relationships between the colleagues.
References
Murphy, S. (2015). The optimistic workplace: Creating an environment that energizes everyone. New York, NY: AMACOM.
Pager, D., & Western, B. (2012). Identifying discrimination at work: The use of field experiments. Journal of Social Issues, 68(2), 221-237.
Silver, J. D. (2015). Jury awards woman more than $13 million in work discrimination case. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Web.